The latest report from the Office of the Auditor General offers a damning critique of Canada's approach to climate change within the agricultural sector. It reveals a startling truth: Agriculture and Agri‑Food Canada still has no real strategy to curb greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring the NDP-Liberal government's failure to meet its out-of-touch 2030 emissions reduction goals. Their environmental policies have done nothing to help the environment and have been destructive to the agriculture industry.
The report acknowledges that the agricultural sector plays a significant role in helping with environmental challenges through the adoption of certain management practices, such as zero tillage. Yet, the so-called beneficial practices promoted by the Liberals amount to nothing more than burdensome restrictions placed on farmers. These policies, disguised as environmental safeguards, effectively serve to destroy agricultural productivity in the name of combating climate change.
These Liberal measures do nothing to improve the environment but instead, punishes hard-working farmers and Canadians. Since 2020, the Liberal government has aggressively imposed fertilizer and methane emission restrictions, mandating a 30% reduction in usage. The most significant burden, however, comes from the NDP-Liberal carbon tax, which levies heavy fees on various energy sources critical to farming operations. Despite efforts by Conservatives, including the introduction of Bill C-234 to exempt essential farming activities like grain drying and barn heating from the carbon tax, the coalition government has continuously blocked these sensible exemptions.
These punitive environmental regulations have yet to demonstrate any measurable success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions or improving climate conditions. These regulations have been increasingly harmful for farmers to produce and sell goods, which costs YOU the consumer, more at the grocery store.
As Common-Sense Conservatives, we stand as the sole defenders of farmers' lives and livelihoods. We recognize the critical importance of agriculture to our nation's health and economy.
I pledge to continue fighting this carbon tax and the ineffective Liberal environmental policies that harm our agricultural sector in Yellowhead.
